Faithin Omaha eBook Collection

Download or read book Occupancy of Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus Carolinus) in the Adirondack Region of New York State written by Melanie McCormack and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rusty Blackbird Euphagus carolinus populations have suffered a steep decline in the past few decades, but the reasons for this decline remain unclear. Until recently little information was known about the species’ ecology due to its secretive nature and the remoteness of its breeding habitats in the boreal forest, but the recent development of a working group of biologists to study the species is rapidly improving our knowledge of the species. A number of reasons may play a role in the species’ decline, including habitat loss and degradation, atmospheric deposition of pollutants, acidification of wetlands, and shrinking of wetlands as a result of climate change. Occupancy modeling is a tool to measure the presence or absence of a species at a given site as a function of detection probabilities to determine where a species is most likely to occur. Occupancy modeling can also help us to understand the natural history and population dynamics of Rusty Blackbirds in a short time period to meet the urgent need for information on this sparsely studied species, and be used over the long-term to identify trends in abundance and understand how threats to this species are related to population declines. The Adirondack Park Region in New York State is the southern edge of the range of many boreal species, including the Rusty Blackbird, but there is little information on this species in the Adirondacks. To meet the need for information on this species in the Adirondack Park I surveyed 75 points in wetlands throughout the park during the early breeding season of 2010, and used program PRESENCE to identify the best-fit model for predicting occupancy in the Park’s wetlands. I found that both habitat-scale and landscape scale factors are important predictors of Rusty Blackbird occupancy, and that the park’s largest wetlands have the greatest probability of Rusty Blackbird occupancy.